(CNN) - As the Obama administration and Democrats gear up to promote the president's sweeping health care reform as a winning solution in the next election cycle, Republicans are gearing up to prove the opposite.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, argued Saturday in the GOP's weekly address that Obamacare is a law crafted out of political maneuvering and has an ill-fated future for Americans.FULL POST

(CNN) – Making his political debut in the early presidential primary state of South Carolina, Sen. Rand Paul on Friday leveled blows against the Obama administration and sought to fuse some of his libertarian-leaning positions with the wider Republican Party platform.

The first-term senator from Kentucky, who’s considering a White House bid, addressed his criticism of Guantanamo Bay, the government’s surveillance programs and his proposals to cut defense spending–three topics that fall out of line with mainstream Republicans.FULL POST

(CNN) - The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that same-sex marriages can resume in California, a move that the Supreme Court paved the way for on Wednesday.

Three judges on the appeals court made it possible for local governments to issue marriage certificates for gay and lesbian couples with a few words: "The stay in the above matter is dissolved effective immediately."

(CNN) – Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, who rose to national fame this week after her 13-hour filibuster in the state legislature, said she was not angry with the deeply personal criticism leveled against her by Republican Gov. Rick Perry, but said his comments were “symptomatic” of his perspective on women’s issues.

“I didn’t have an angry response to it on behalf of myself,” she said Friday on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” “I think it just demonstrated the typical attitude that Governor Perry has expressed toward the issue. He’s demeaned the high office that he holds by saying things like that.”FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - It's a familiar refrain from the media-shy U.S. Supreme Court: Judge us by what we write in our rulings, not in oral arguments, speeches or interviews.

But the court term that ended this week in dramatic fashion reveals how difficult it can be to create a coherent picture of this dynamic bench, one that moves easily, if stealthily, across ideological lines on a range of hot-button cases.

Washington (CNN) - An emerging immigration compromise in the House differs sharply from the measure passed by the Senate this week by making it harder for undocumented immigrants to get on a path to citizenship.

Members of the bipartisan House group negotiating the bill would require that border security measures are in place before any process toward eventual citizenship could begin. Lawmakers working on the House plan agreed to include security "triggers" to their proposal in hopes of attracting support from more House Republicans who have been highly critical of the Senate bill. The Senate rejected a similar GOP proposal.FULL POST

CNN's GUT CHECK | for June 28, 2013 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

A DAD’S PLEA: FATHER PROPOSES DEAL FOR SNOWDEN'S VOLUNTARY RETURN… The father of Edward J. Snowden has offered federal authorities a deal that he says would likely lead the accused leaker to return voluntarily to the United States to face espionage charges. The proposal was laid out in a letter, dated Thursday and obtained Friday by CNN, addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder and written by Bruce Fein, a Washington-based lawyer for Snowden's father, Lonnie G. Snowden. – Tom Watkins

HISTORIC MOMENT WATCH: OBAMA NOT RULING OUT VISIT TO AILING MANDELA… “I don't need a photo op and the last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned with Nelson Mandela's condition,” the president told reporters traveling with him in Africa.
The President’s schedule for his trip to Africa is available here.

(CNN) - Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin mocked Senate Republicans in a biting statement Friday over the Senate's passage of an immigration bill this week.

Her Facebook and PAC website feature a photo of Palin and her husband, Todd, with people sitting behind them–all of whom have a serious look on their face. Superimposed on the photo was her statement: "Great job, GOP establishment."FULL POST

(CNN) - The National Football League has "no plans" to work with the Obama administration in educating the public about the president's controversial health care reform, according to an NFL spokesman.

Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the NFL and a "variety of sports affiliates" had been "very actively and enthusiastically engaged" with the administration over the idea.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - One day after the Senate passed a full-spectrum immigration bill with overwhelming support, the chairman of the Republican National Committee re-emphasized the need for reform but said the final contours of the legislation are far from settled.

"We need comprehensive immigration reform," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told CNN in an interview in his Capitol Hill office. "I don't think we can continue to drift along with this mess of immigration laws that we have. And a mess that in many regards has been the results of our government not even enforcing the laws that are in place. There is plenty of blame to go around for why we are in this position, but I think it's about time that we address it."FULL POST